The recently concluded spectrum auction which took place in March this year changed the spectrum holding portfolio of all private operators. Additionally, soon after the auction, we saw Reliance Jio and Airtel enter into a spectrum trading deal. All of this has led to a reshuffling of the leaderboard when it comes to the ranking based on the highest spectrum holding by an operator in a particular telecom circle (India has a total of 22 telecom circles). We intend to throw some light on the matter so that our readers get a clear idea of which operator has the largest spectrum footprint in their circle. The spectrum holding of state-owned operator BSNL is not clear at this point and thus it has been left outside of the purview of this comparison.
On the Pan India scale, Bharti Airtel has the largest spectrum holding pegged at 2092.1 MHz, followed by Vodafone Idea which has a spectrum footprint of 1768.4 MHz, and trailing on the leaderboard we have Reliance Jio with a portfolio of 1732 MHz. The irony of the situation though lies in the fact that the operator with the lowest overall spectrum holding has the highest holding in the Sub GHz as well as TDD spectrum divisions but lags behind rivals due to weak mid-band spectrum holding. Check the image below for the details of Sub GHz, Mid band (Supra GHz), and TDD holdings of all 3 operators.
Airtel tops the leaderboard with the highest spectrum holding in 14 out of the 22 telecom circles. Airtel leads in the circles of Andhra Pradesh, Assam, Bihar, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu & Kashmir, Karnataka, North East, Odisha, Punjab, Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu, UP East, UP West, and West Bengal. Vi comes next on the leaderboard with the highest spectrum holding in 7 out of the 22 telecom circles. Vi leads in the circles of Gujarat, Haryana, Kerala, Kolkata, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra Goa, and Mumbai. Reliance Jio lags behind claiming the top spot only in the Delhi NCR circle. The table below indicates operators with the highest and lowest spectrum holding across the 22 telecom circles.
| Telecom Circle | Airtel | Vi | Jio |
|---|---|---|---|
| Andhra Pradesh | H | L | |
| Assam | H | L | |
| Bihar | H | L | |
| Delhi NCR | L | H | |
| Gujarat | H | L | |
| Haryana | H | L | |
| Himachal Pradesh | H | L | |
| Jammu & Kashmir | H | L | |
| Karnataka | H | L | |
| Kerala | L | H | |
| Kolkata | L | H | |
| Madhya Pradesh | H | L | |
| Maharashtra Goa | H | L | |
| Mumbai | L | H | |
| North East | H | L | |
| Odisha | H | L | |
| Punjab | H | L | |
| Rajasthan | H | L | |
| Tamil Nadu | H | L | |
| Uttar Pradesh East | H | L | |
| Uttar Pradesh West | H | L | |
| West Bengal | H | L |
Reliance Jio has the lowest spectrum holding in 10 out of the 22 telecom circles which include the circles of Assam, Gujarat, Haryana, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra Goa, North East, Rajasthan, UP East, UP West, and West Bengal. Vodafone Idea has the smallest spectrum footprint in the 9 circles comprising of Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, Delhi NCR, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu & Kashmir, Karnataka, Odisha, Punjab, and Tamil Nadu. Bharti Airtel has the lowest spectrum holding in the 3 circles of Kerala, Kolkata, and Mumbai.
Esmail ji, also Vi in KA circle recently got 4MHz in band 3 so totally it’s 15MHz. Right now only 10MHz is deployed along with 5MHz in band 1 and band 8.
Will they utilise the additional 5mhz in band 3 for 4G…?
Esmail ji…. curious to know how Vi will be managing in AP circle, now 10MHz is available in band 3, but after this year they will be having only 6.6.
They have not deployed 4G in band 8 and deployment of band 41 is very rare. So the entire load will be on just 6.6 MHz….. please comment on this na
They will have to move their 2G to Band 3 and use 1.6 MHz for 2G, 5 MHz for 4G. But for that to happen Vi needs to be confident about its coverage. Airtel took this step here in AP after it felt that it can serve its 2G subscriber base with Band 3. Now airtel is using 1.4 MHz of 2G. Idea shouldn’t have any problem to run 2G on 1.6 MHz as it is only using 2.4 out of 5 MHz of B8 for 2G currently. But it is to be noted that their 4G subscribers still fallback to 2G for calls as their VoLTE is pathetic
Thanks Srivatsava, but I think it’s gonna be really pathetic for Vi to handle AP circle, they have just 5MHz in each band 1, 3 & 8 for 4G, that too only if they reframe 3G and use 900 for 4G.
Band 41 alone is 10MHz.
Here in KA also it’s worst, just 5mhz of band 1 & 8 and 10 MHz of band 3 deployed for 4G.
They don’t have TDD in KA & TN.
But in TN I think it’s better, bcoz 15MHz totally in band 1, right now 10mhz for 4G and 5 for 3G, along with these 10MHz of band 3 for 4G.
Yet to deploy 4G in band 8.